At the Pan-American Championships, top ranked University of Baltimore Country beat host University of Texas at Dallas's "A" team. Update: UTD's "B" team and UMBC drew their final round game and tied for first with 5/6 match points each.
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Seven players are tied for the lead in the Eastern Open in D.C including Bryan Smith, pictured to the left, while GM Georgi Kacheishvili pulled ahead in the North American Open in Vegas with 4.5/5.
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Check out photos by WIM Alexey Root from the opening ceremony of the Pan-American Championships (Dallas, Texas, Dec.27-30). Also see game highlights, standings after round 1 and complete team rosters.
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Now that the presents have been unwrapped, chessplayers on both coasts can rush to their nearest massive open: The Eastern Open in D.C. and the North American Open in Las Vegas both start this weekend.
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Chris Dobbs writes about how he created a chess club at Miami University, and the team's preparation for the biggest collegiate event of the year. The Pan-American Championships kick off in Dallas, Texas from December 27-30.
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Four rounds into the Berkeley International, GMs Zviad Izoria, Giorgi Kacheishvili and FM Daniel Rensch lead with 3/4. Check out game highlights including two sparkling wins from IM David Pruess and photos by IM Irina Krush.
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Elizabeth Vicary's report on the Grade Nationals starts with a story about a bird and a kindergartener's first Nationals, and includes a video update, photos, games and stories from a variety of champions and triumphant teams.
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Gary Kevin Ware's holiday Problem Potpourri includes favorites that didn't quite make it into his 64-problem-tour. Also read about Gary's Gems, which marks the revival of the ladder on chessproblem.net.
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The Berkeley International (December 14-23) began on Sunday 5 PM EST with six Grandmasters and many GM hopefuls. The first round saw many upsets, including Esserman and Rensch's wins over GMs Friedel and Bhat.
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After five rounds of the Grade Nationals (Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Dec.11-14), there are few clear leaders but many perfect scores. After 2 more rounds, 13 new national champions and 13 new national championship teams will emerge.
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